Coweta BoE approves school calendars for 2013-2015

Fri, 12/21/2012 - 12:18pmBen Nelms

Many school districts in Georgia have cut back on the number of school days in the calendar due to budget concerns. Coweta County is not one of those. The Coweta County Board of Education last week approved calendars for the next two school years, maintaining a 180-day schedule and choosing the version of the calendar preferred by 67 percent of those who participated in a recent community survey.

School system spokesman Dean Jackson said the community was asked to vote on two versions of the calendar that will be used for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years that begin in August.

Version 2 of the calendars had a full week February (mid-winter) break, and starts the school year slightly earlier in August, while version 1 of the calendars had a shorter February (mid-winter) break, and starts the school year slightly later in August.

Jackson said 944 people participated in the online survey, with 67 percent of respondents voting in favor of “version 2” of the proposed 2013-2014 calendars, and 65 percent voting in favor of “version 2” of the proposed 2014-2015 calendars.

The school board subsequently voted to approve the version 2 calendar for the next two school years.

The new school year will begin on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

The two years of school calendars can be viewed on the Coweta County School System website at www.cowetaschools.org.

The calendars for both school years maintain a summer break between Memorial Day and Aug. 6, a full week for Thanksgiving break, two weeks for the Christmas and New Year’s break, a full week for Winter Break in February and a full week for Spring break in the first full week of April. Both calendars end the school year for students before Memorial Day.

Board members at the meeting elected to have the Coweta County School System continue to provide a full 180-day academic year for students, even as many Georgia school systems have shortened the academic year due to budget concerns, Jackson said.